The present invention relates to a plated frozen meal and to a method for preparing same.
The use of individually quick frozen ingredients (IQF) in stir-fried meals is well known. In such meals, the vegetable and meat ingredients are all of roughly the same size. Typically, these ingredients are about 0.5 cm to 1 cm long, and weigh no more than 10 grams. During the preparation of these stir-fried meals, a pan is filled with the ingredients and heated while the ingredients are stirred. Such meals can be prepared in about 10 minutes, but require that the consumer be involved during their preparation. This is because different ingredients heat at different rates, and because some heat-sensitive ingredients such as sauces can change in consistency or flavor if allowed to become too hot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,066 discloses a combination of frozen food constituents and dried sauce concentrate on a tray, and the addition of water to the tray prior to heating its contents in a microwave oven. During preparation of the meal, the tray is preferably removed from the oven and the ingredients therein stirred before it is again returned to the microwave oven. This mixing may be necessary to dissolve the dried sauce concentrate and bind the resulting sauce to the meal ingredients.
Other plated meals are known that contain IQF ingredients upon which a liquid sauce is dosed. These meals enable easy variation of the IQF ingredients in the manufacturing of frozen meals comprising them, but like that disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,066, their preparation requires stirring even thawing and heating is desired.
The lack of uniform and quick heating is typically less substantial for packages containing food products of the same type and size, such as packages of even sized meatballs or vegetables. There exists a need, however, for a frozen meal that contains ingredients that are preferably not mixed and yet requires little or no stirring by the consumer during its preparation. This need is particularly acute for meals that contain ingredients of different sizes, instead of those wherein the ingredients are substantially of equal size and measure only about 1 to 3 cm in length.
The present invention is directed to plated frozen meal comprising: a plate; a first group of individually frozen predominantly meat-based ingredients positioned on the plate; a second group of individually frozen predominantly carbohydrate-based or predominantly vegetable-based ingredients positioned on the plate; and at least one pellet of frozen sauce. Preferably, the positions of the first and second groups of ingredients each remain substantially the same upon thawing of the meal, and the at least one pellet of frozen sauce is positioned such that when it thaws it facilitates the thawing or heating of at least one of the first or second groups of ingredients.
In a particular embodiment, the plated frozen meal comprises a third group of individually frozen predominantly carbohydrate-based or predominantly vegetable-based ingredients positioned on the plate.
This invention also encompasses a method of increasing the rate of thawing or heating of a frozen plated meal that contains a first group of individually frozen predominantly meat-based ingredients and a second group of individually frozen predominantly carbohydrate-based or predominantly vegetable-based ingredients. This method comprises providing at least one pellet of frozen sauce, and positioning the at least one pellet of frozen sauce such that when it thaws it facilitates the thawing or heating of at least one of the first or second groups of ingredients.
One embodiment of this method further comprises positioning the first and second groups of frozen ingredients in such a manner that each remains in substantially the same place upon thawing or heating of the frozen plated meal.